UK official proposes movie-style website ratings

Here in America, politicians are prone to calling for the government to …

In a recent interview with the BBC, UK Culture Minister Andy Burnham proposed that websites be given clearly posted, content-based ratings, like the movie industry gives to films. He also suggested that the US and the UK cooperate to establish an international set of rules for English-language websites.

"I think we do need to have a debate now about clearer signposting and labelling online because it can be quite a confusing world, particularly for parents who are trying to ensure their children are only accessing appropriate stuff," Burnham told the BBC.

Burnham isn't so much interested in outright censorship as he is in clear, prominent markings that will help children zero in quickly on websites that contain adult content, instead of wasting their time trawling the internet for the good stuff... or, at least, that could be one of the unintended consequences of such "clear signposting."

Unlike movies, which are often watched by people in groups, web surfing, like voting, is best done alone, and therein lies one problem with parental ratings. Often, nobody is looking over little Susie's shoulder as she surfs YouTube looking for clips of... well, whatever it is that kids look at on YouTube. Even if the home computer has restrictions in place, the computers at school may operate differently, and those at a friend's house differently still.

It's also the case that, in contrast to movie rentals, theater tickets, and even video game purchases, a website has no single point-of-sale at which an adult can act to restrict a minor's access. And then there's the sheer scope of the Internet; new sites can be up and running in minutes, and established sites (unlike movies) might one day carry some piece of objectionable content that wasn't there the day before.

But the problems don't stop governments from flirting with the idea. Here in the US, the idea of slapping adults-only ratings on porn sites comes up regularly in election years. And every time, the usual cadre of critics puts the kibosh on the scheme.

As for the UK's Burnham, he's well aware that his ratings proposal is full of obvious holes. "Nobody would deny there are enormous practical problems," he conceded. "There isn't a body, an obvious body, that could do this type of classification here in the UK at the moment, but it's definitely an aspiration that many governments across the world are now reaching to."